"Being Alive" at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
"Being Alive" at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
#1"Being Alive" at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:07pm
I mean I'm sure its a festive, good time and amazingly sung, but Sondheim and Shakespeare? The connection is...?
How about an evening of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the poetry of Maya Angelou?
https://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=20931
#2re: 'Being Alive' at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:10pm
"Porter, who cites Sondheim's work as an early and continuing inspiration for his own career, has created the production, utilizing composer-lyricist Sondheim's words and music, as well as additional text from Shakespeare, to "tell the universal story of man's seven ages in African-American musical idioms including soul, jazz, blues, R&B, hip-hop, and gospel."
From Playbill.com
"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"
#2re: 'Being Alive' at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:12pm
My question is, other than the fact that Sondheim inspired Porter, what do he and Shakespeare have to do with "African-American musical idioms including soul, jazz, blues, R&B, hip-hop, and gospel,"?
"I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking...someday all of this will have to be developed, carefully printed, fixed." - Christopher Isherwood
Updated On: 8/24/07 at 04:12 PM
#3re: 'Being Alive' at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
Posted: 8/24/07 at 4:24pm
Sondheim is about the whitest Broadway composer around. I hear he liked THE WIZ on Broadway though, so maybe he's got soul. But, I still don't get this show's concept.
Its like using Cole Porter and Christopher Marlowe to explore the musical journey of Mexican Americans.
jbdc
Leading Actor Joined: 3/17/07
#4re: 'Being Alive' at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
Posted: 8/24/07 at 7:32pmThat's a fabulous idea! Look for it at the Fringe next year! The main character can be Reno Suarez.
Jazzysuite82
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/6/05
#5re: 'Being Alive' at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
Posted: 8/25/07 at 12:13pm
REALLY PEOPLE?!
It's called a concept. It's new. It'll be a new way to hear things. Who says Sondheim and Shakespeare DON'T go together? Will it work? I don't know. But you know all you need is a good arranger. Since when did a man have to be black to speak on things that black people go through. The thing about Sondheim is he's a universalist. He writes about the HUMAN condition...as does Shakespeare. Believe or not, not all black people are sitting in a corner eating watermelon moaning a spiritual. Really all I see here is Sondheim arranged differently (and Sondheim's permission HAD to be granted). Some things might not need to be "arranged" that much. He HAS written som jazzy tunes. His work has been covered so many times that I sort of welcome a change now.
#6re: 'Being Alive' at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
Posted: 8/25/07 at 12:37pm
Jazzy, I'm all for rearrangements and hearing familiar songs reinterpretated and reorchestrated (and this by the way, is not the first time Sondheim has been given the jazz or funk treatment).
I just don't understand what the common thread is that ties this concept together. Perhaps somebody will see the show and report back. Maybe its brilliant, I don't know. On paper it just seems very random.
#7re: 'Being Alive' at Westport: Can somebody explain this concept to me?
Posted: 8/25/07 at 1:36pm
You can't get much whiter a place than Westport, Connecticut.
Since Tazwell Thompson came about as AD of Westport Country Playhouse, has has been introducing african american themes throughout the shows he selects.
This is another one of them.
I'd be interested to know what all the Mr. & Mrs. Thurston Howell III's think of Mr. Thompson's artistic vision as it is a far cry from what Jim MacKenzie presented to
these same audiences for such a very long time.
